Holidays, History and Hate

I love this weekend of the year. I have not always been a fan of Texas playing on Thanksgiving or even the day after when they played Texas A&M on what was called ‘T + 1’. I was not a fan for obvious reasons – I want to be able to get my proper portion of the ‘meat sweats’ because I want to eat and enjoy my friends and family.

If there is one blessing to having a busy Thursday, it is having a wide open Friday and Saturday. Rivalry weekend is always awesome if for no other reason than the energy, the anger and the passion. Sure the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma is in October. Georgia and Florida is earlier in the season as well. The lion’s share of the great rivalries will be played this weekend. If you cannot get excited about this list of games when coupled with your favorite drinks and leftovers galore from Thanksgiving, you should just move to Europe and take up Curling. A rivalry is the ability to make your season or break your opponent’s season in a single game.

If you don’t think a rivalry sets a legacy, just ask former Texas quarterback Chris Simms. His numbers and success at Texas are just silly. He won 80% of his games and torched one of his rivals in Texas A&M year after year. BUT, he will always be known as the guy that could not beat Oklahoma. As sad as it is, his legacy is set.

(25) Washington @ Washington State – Friday, 3:30 pm FOX

Arizona vs. Arizona St. – Friday, 10pm ESPN

Virginia @ Virginia Tech – Saturday, 12 pm ESPN U

(3) Georgia vs. Georgia Tech – Saturday, 12 pm ESPN

(19) Michigan vs. Ohio State –Saturday, 12 pm ABC

(5) Oregon vs. (15) Oregon State – Saturday, 3 pm Pac 12 Network

(13) Oklahoma vs. (21) Oklahoma State – Saturday, 3:30 pm ESPN

(2) Alabama vs. Auburn – Saturday, 3:30 CBS

(4) Florida @ (10) Florida State – Saturday, 3:30 pm ABC

(12) South Carolina @ (11) Clemson – Saturday, 7 pm ESPN

Mississippi State @ Ole Miss – Saturday, 7 pm ESPN U

(1) Notre Dame @ USC – Saturday, 8 pm ABC

The best rivalry is clearly Army vs. Navy and it deserves its own day and they will play on December 8th. That is a great rivalry because of the history and the fact that all of these players will fight for the same team, many times on foreign soil, as active members of the military for the duration of their five year commitment or longer when their playing days are over.

Hug your family, eat food that you have no business eating and watch a ton of great passion and football. I’ll be singing all of the fight songs and cheering for everyone.

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Sean is an expert radio and television guest and commentator covering the national perspective and the history of college football. Currently a columnist covering the University of Texas athletics for ESPN.com and HornsNation, Sean is also a contributor to Longhorn Network.